I recently read the title of a book by Bishop Eric Varden called Healing Wounds, so I bought it. Who can’t use a little healing now and then? Yet, as I pondered the title, I thought, “What if it is not just about the curing of illness and injuries?” We have all heard and read about Jesus curing the sick and the many miracles of people being healed when they visit holy places like Lourdes and Fatima. Our Bishop of the Saginaw Diocese even has evening healing services in which people are healed. Cool!
While the Bible and Church teach us that suffering and death are the result of our first parents rebellion against God, Original Sin, could not some sin, woundedness and illness, be transforming and healing? Surgeons wound us all the time. They cut and stitch, remove body parts, and cause pain. Their wounding is intended to heal. Their wounding heals the body. There is a healing wound!
Suffering, no one wants it, not me. Yet sometimes I wonder if the Divine Surgeon doesn’t allow it for us to be healed. Padre Pio, lived in immense pain after receiving the wounds of Jesus in his body. How many of us have suffered serious illnesses or injury, only in hindsight, to discover real healing? For example, I cannot tell you the number of times recovering alcoholics have said the if it had not been for their addiction, they never would have come to know Jesus and live a holy life. “My addiction led me to God!”
I do not believe Jesus wants anyone to suffer. Most suffering is the result of our own doing, being victimized by others, or by accident. Suffering came into the world by Original Sin. Suffering is debilitating. Yet, for some it is healing, as Jesus transforms us and heals us. Some of us suffer as a result of our own actions. As my grandson Pablo would say, “Seems like there should be a lesson in there someplace.”
I am convinced that Jesus wants us to live healthy and holy lives and that he wants us to be pain free. It is a mystery why some of us suffer so much and some of us don’t. Yet, some wounds are healing, “By his stripes we are healed.” Jesus’s suffering and death gives us eternal life. Uniting our suffering with his is one way Jesus heals not only ourselves, but the whole world.
“May the Lord bless and keep you. May he let his face shine upin you, be gracious to you and give you his peace.”
